


Alive in Hell

by PopitLockitWriteit



Category: Original Work
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Anxiety Disorder, Awkward Romance, Brutal Murder, Character Death, Death, Detectives, Eventual Romance, Gay, Gay Character, Killing, M/M, Minor Character Death, Murder, Murderers, Near Death, Near Death Experiences, Original Character Death(s), Police, Romance, Separation Anxiety, Serial Killers, Social Anxiety, Tragic Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-17
Updated: 2020-03-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:34:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23193262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PopitLockitWriteit/pseuds/PopitLockitWriteit
Summary: A dating service where matching is based on people’s search history exists. Nimbus is a serial killer. He has been matched with Skylark, an author. They meet up in the Sparkling Cafe for their first official date. Hijinks ensue.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

Okay, lets get the exposition out of the way. Everyone's here for the real meat of the story, right? Right. It all kicks up at the Sparkling Cafe. It's a dark, but popular, little mix of a bar and a donut shop. It's even got a rusty coffee maker at the edge of the countertop. Though... it could definitely use some fixing up, like the rest of the place. Pretty shady people seem to come here more often than not. Shady people just like Nimbus.

He definitely isn't the best person. Long story short; he's a serial killer. And today he decided to test his look. Freshened up, re-curled and gelled his hair, and did his best to scrub the dark circles off his skin. It only worked a little; maybe people will think he's just wearing makeup since it blends into his tan skin... He put on his best scarf, it being in his three favourite colours; sandy yellow, fox red, and blood orange. It frayed at the opposite ends, but that was alright. He didn't wear it enough to care about what it looked like regardless. He had dark orange pants to match, but the rest? Not as much. Who wears a pale green sweater vest with orange of all colours? And dark blue loafers? At least it matches with _one_ thing he's wearing... gloves, so dark you can't even call the color anything other than black.

He should be lucky he's got dead green eyes. It's the only thing keeping his colour palette together, even if nothing else matches. Maybe his match will think he looks good...

In this world, people are matched based on their search histories. Weirdos can find weirdos, students can find eachother, dark people can find... seemingly innocent people. Almost a match.

Nimbus is one of those people. He decided just a few days ago he was going to try his luck. His search history was full of all things dark; How long does it take someone to die if they're shot in the stomach? Can a person survive without part of their intestines? How can you kill someone and make it look like an accident? You know, the standard things a serial killer is going to be looking for on the internet. What kind of person would it pair him up with?

The result of the challenge...

[from: Search Match] Hey!

Nimbus has been paired up with...

[from: Search Match] Uhh... lets get the awkward things out of the way first.  
[from: Search Match] I'll start!  
[from: Search Match] My name's Skylark. I'm an author. I work at the library near the town fountain; I basically live there haha! I usually specialize in writing... horror stories and the suchlike...  
[from: Search Match] I wonder how my search history relates to yours already...!

Skylark sends a photo. It shows some of his search history. Nearly matching Nimbus's. Skylark's history is full of ITube links to quiet ambience, lo-fi music... But he sends another photo. The darker side of his history, which was mostly marine based. How easy would it be for a squid to kill a human? What's the most dangerous creature in the ocean? How much does it take for electrocution to kill someone? How quickly would someone die if they were stabbed by a swordfish?

[from: Search Match] Pretty screwed up, huh,,,  
[from: Search Match] But ignoring that... you should introduce yourself too!! Don't leave me hangin!

It took Nimbus a minute, but he responded back to the texts. He debated ignoring them, but after seeing it was from his match, he couldn't resist.

[to: Search Match] nimbus  
[to: Search Match] i'm a freelancer, my history aint no different from yours

He sent a photo of his own history over, though his, of course, was much more human based.

[from: Search Match] My, I guess we're both a little dark...

[to: Search Match] yea i guess so  
[to: Search Match] but that's why we matched so cant blame us

[from: Search Match] A perfect pair~~ <3

[to: Search Match] dont start with that

[from: Search Match] Sorry! That must've come off weird,,  
[from: Search Match] (Hopefully I havent messed this up immediately, oops!)  
[from: Search Match] Um!  
[from: Search Match] Well, since we've matched, I've been wondering if you'd like to meet up for a date soon?  
[from: Search Match] I'll even let you pick someplace for us!

[to: Search Match] im free tomorrow if you are  
[to: Search Match] i dont really do too much anyways tbh

[from: Search Match] Cool! I'm free then!  
[from: Search Match] You got a place in mind? I can pick if not!

[to: Search Match] i usually hang at the sparkling cafe when im not busy  
[to: Search Match] but, i mean, its a kinda fucked up place so  
[to: Search Match] i dont wanna make you uncomfortable makin you go someplace you dont like so

[from: Search Match] No no that's fine!  
[from: Search Match] Sure it's a little,,, shady  
[from: Search Match] Bu that's where people like us go to hang out right?  
[from: Search Match] But* oof!! Sorry for my typos, I'm just excited!

[to: Search Match] its aight  
[to: Search Match] i'm not a grammar nazi  
[to: Search Match] but if youre fine comin, how's noon tomorrow sound?

[from: Search Match] Sounds good to me,,, I'm excited to meet you! I bet you're cute,,,

[to: Search Match] you seem like the cute one based on how you type

[from: Search Match] >.< DOn't make me blush nimbus!1

[to: Search Match] hah

[from: Search Match] Ohgoshnowimallflustered,,  
[from: Search Match] Um!!!  
[from: Search Match] I'll meet you there but I should go now to calm down,,,

[to: Search Match] have fun, dorkazoid

[from: Seach Match] Quit it!!!!! >.< >.< >.<

Skylark's icon went black after that. He'd went offline. How's he gonna calm himself down...

Well, it didn't matter. The next day had come by really quickly after that. Nimbus sat back at a booth in the Sparkling Cafe, feet propped up on the table, heading leaning against he window beside him. Waiting patiently for Skylark. That was his name, right? Oh god, he's ruining it already...

He takes a few deep breaths to compose himself. It's just one date. If things go wrong, he can match with another person on the website. Make a new account to get a new match. But hopefully things don't go wrong... this is his first time; let it be a good one...

_Ba-ding!_

His phone vibrates, and a sound plays in his pocket, and his feet stomp back to the ground almost immediately, eager to pull his phone out of his pocket. Please don't just be spam...

[from: Search Match] Im almost there I swear!!! Im a little late im sosososososo sorry I got caught up in my writing from last night so I just HAD to finish! IM SORRY!!

[to: Search Match] chill, it's fine  
[to: Search Match] i got us reserved until like 1 pm  
[to: Search Match] so unless youre showin at 1 you aint even late

[from: Search Match] Oh thank the lord for that I was so scared..!  
[from: Search Match] I'll be there soon though don't worry!! I promise you!  
[from: Search Match] I'm getting ready now! TTYL!

Skylark's icon goes dark. He's gone off again... Nimbus is filled with anxiety again. He's trying so hard to get ready, he thinks he's late to meet with Nimbus for their date... He's trying so hard when Nimbus is trying so little. What kind of person does that make him...?

_Ding!_

Nimbus had spaced out sometime after that. He let his worries build and mesh for a few minutes, and when he looked at the clock again, 10 minutes had passed. It was 12:10. The bell above the door had just rung. And so did his phone.

[from: Search Match] Hey hey! I'm here! Where are you?

Oh thank god...

[to: Search Match] booth in the back by the window  
[to: Search Match] i've got a pretty vibrant scarf on; you'll know its me

Now he just had to wait. Nimbus put his feet back up on the table, crossing his left leg over his right knee, and tapping the table with his heel.

"Hey! Feet off the table, Nimbus, damnit!" Oh boy, the shopkeeper. "I tell ya every time yer in here, get em off 'fore i chop em off!"

"Eh, piss off!" Nimbus waved his hand to the shopkeeper, all fingers and thumb folded into his palm minus the middle finger. "I reserved this table, I'll piss on it if I gotta!"

The shopkeeper grumbled, stomping back into the backroom behind the countertop. Nimbus just laughed. Pissing him off was so much fun... maybe he should be doin it more often.

"Ah, you're Nimbus?" A shy voice speaks up as it comes closer. Nimbus glances to who it came from, and his eyes appear to sparkle. A bit of a younger man is before him, barely into his 20s it seems. His golden orange hair is an organized mess, spiking out at the back and down his neck, and curling at the front over his forehead. His white sweater torso is covered in pale golden pinstripes, and the cuffs of his sleeves match it. His neck is entirely hidden in the shirt's fluffy collar, and he seems to be trying to keep it like that. But with how wrinkled up it is, like the rest of his shirt, it won't cooperate. His legs are pressed together in an awkward stance, his black jeans fitting their form perfectly, and flaring out at the ankles over his blue sneakers, white soles tapping the dirty floor.

But all in all... dear god help Nimbus. He's _so fucking cute._

He barely realizes he's staring, and shakes his head to clear his thoughts when he realizes. He takes his feet back off the table, and plants them on the ground again. His hands come together, elbows on the table as he chuckles.

"Skylark, was it?" He glanced to the chair in front of him, then back at the young man. "Have a seat. I hope my physical introduction leaves an impression on you, haha."


	2. Chapter 2

"So.. you're a writer. You and I as freelancers have similar search history, miraculously..." Nimbus tried to stay still, and resist the urge to put his feet up on the table, but his bouncing leg was making that very difficult right now. "And you mostly write..." He pulls out his phone to glance at their first messages again. "Horror stories. That explains a lot."

"Mhm!" Skylark nodded with each thing Nimbus said, staying quiet to let the other talk. "And you're a freelancer, but we still matched... would it be wrong of me to ask why that is?"

"Well, as a freelancer, you get to pick whatever it is you do..." Nimbus ran his thumb on the edge of the tabletop. "I have a wide variety of jobs. I write stories, i draw art, I work as an intern at the butcher... Some people say I do secret agent work and help out assassins, haha! Well, that's illegal, so no. I wanna keep my record clean."

As he ran his thumb along the tabletop, it came across a crack that left a scratch on his thumb. " Ack-! " It started to bleed slowly, a droplet falling on the table.

"A-are you alright?" Immediately Skylark grew worried, getting up out of his chair and putting his hands on the table, peeking over at Nimbus's hand.

"Yeah yeah, I'm fine... " Nimbus wiped the blood off the table with his scarf. "Sucks that I'm not a freelance nurse though, haha. W-well, I'll take care of this and you can talk..." He put his thumb in his mouth, leaning back against the seat and licking the wound taking a moment to taste the blood each time he felt it on his tongue.

"Oh, um, okay..." Skylark sat back down slowly, playing with his thumbs underneath the table. He seemed pretty nervous. "Er, well... I-I... I'm kinda curious about some of your search history... it might be able to help me with a murder mystery I'm planning on writing... Would you mind if I asked you for your answers in your search history..?"

Nimbus only shook his head, and waved his other hand. He doesn't seem to mind at all.

"Right, yes..." Skylark pulled his phone out, scrolling back through their conversation to find Nimbus's search history. "Alright, first one... Um..! If... if you were shot in the stomach, how long would it take for you to die?"

"Depends on where you were shot," Nimbus pulled his thumb out of his mouth once it seemed like the bleeding had stopped. He gently wrapped his thumb in his scarf to make sure the bleeding would stop. "If it's dead on, it'll cut your spine. Eventually, your spine will collapse, and you'll die. If it hits your spleen or liver, you die _very_ slowly. If it hits your bladder, it'll leak, so you'll die slowly cause of peritonitis. If it misses all those, and misses your upper organs... well, you'll still get peritonitis which could kill you slowly, but if medical care is brought quickly enough, you can still live. Just... with some severe problems."

Skylark really seemed impressed. "A-ah, I see... a slow death depending on location... any estimate on... minutes, hours, days..?"

"There's no single answer to that question. Trust me, I looked everywhere," Nimbus couldn't help but laugh. He's tried everywhere too. "But the best answer I've seen is... anywhere from 2 to 10 minutes. And, if you're lucky and patch up the wound, you could only risk infection up to 2 weeks later, and you could die from that instead."

Skylark was typing down these answers in his phone with sparkling eyes. " Wow, that's more than I was expecting... I thought stomach wounds are mostly an insta-kill since you get the guts."

"Sometimes... but you have to hit the right artery for that," Nimbus tapped the table with his other hand. "So, is it my turn to ask a question now? All your searches seem to be based on marine life lately, so I'm super curious..."

"Oh, yes yes yes!" Skylark nodded his head a few times and put his phone away. "We can play 20 questions to keep this going back and forth if you want... I-I've started, so you can go now!"

"Heh... yeah, that sounds fun..." Nimbus managed a smile, and kept himself sitting up. Or at least he tried to keep himself like that. "Alright, first one... Hm. How much does it take for electrocution to kill a person?"

"The amount doesn't matter," Skylark hummed innocently. "If it hits your heart, it'll give you a heart attack, which travels through your body out your foot, and kills you instantly."

"Good to know..." _Oh my god he's good._ Nimbus is trying to keep off a dorkish smile, but he still has wide eyes.

"My turn," Skylark snapped him out of his thoughts. "Hypothetically... how could you kill someone and make it look like a heart attack?"

"Air shot between the toes," Nimbus spoke up quick for that one. Maybe he's tried it before... " Use a syringe full of air, and hit the vascular system in the toes. It's gotta hit there or it won't work. The air bubbles will travel to the heart and create what looks like a heart attack."

"Haah... I see..." Skylark was surprised with how quickly Nimbus had answered his question. Be he didn't have time to ask another. "Um, your turn..."

"Right..." Nimbus shut his eyes as he thought. "...Let's see here... if you were to get stung by a jellyfish, could it kill you?"

Skylark seemed to pause to think. Nimbus opened his eyes once he heard fingers drumming on the table, and looked up to see Skylark staring a his hand as it hit the tabletop. Finally, he came to an answer. "...Some species can cause death within minutes. Most will cause nausea, vomiting, clotting, numbness, spasms, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and comas depending on how long it's been applied. Some stings are venomous, others just... sting. You can die depending on how long you're being stung for, or depending on the type of jellyfish it is that's stinging you."

"Huh... guess I should've guessed that. There are more species of jellyfish than I remember. Would you mind if I asked another question?"

"You might be provided with another answer," Skylark giggled at his own response. What a dork...

Nimbus just rolled his eyes and smiled. "You seem to be an expert on marine life. How many species of jellyfish are there, and how many can kill?"

"Well over 2000 types. At least, ones that scientists have discovered, haha!" Skylark's eyes lit up with the question, and he looked back to Nimbus with a stare usually only seen in young children after they've made macaroni art with super glue and glitter. "Scientists today think there are more than 300,000 species of jellyfish that we still haven't discovered. And, as it stands right now, only about 70 of the ones we have names for can kill you, the box jellyfish being the most famous one. Fun-fact about box jellyfish too, they've got about 15 tentacles that have venom, which is why they can kill."

"So not all jellyfish just electrocute?" Nimbus cocked his head, and raised an eyebrow.

"The deadliest ones have venom!" Skylark clapped his hands together, seeming excited. "But most of them do just... electrocute. It just varies on how much they can fire off at one time. For the venomous ones it doesn't really matter since they'll poison you before they even touch you."

"You know a lot about marine life for being a writer..." Nimbus is so in love already...

"Well, hehe..." Skylark twirled a strand of hair around his finger, glancing to the side with a nervous gaze. "I-i did... make marine and sea life studies my main major when I was in college... I got my bachelor in Marine Biology just last year, and after that I got signed up to this search history program... it took me so long to find you!"

"Well..." Nimbus chuckled nervously, unwrapping his thumb from his scarf and looking it over, trying to distract himself. "I didn't sign up for it until just a few days ago. I never saw too much of a purpose for it, honestly..? But... I've been feeling really lonely lately and... I just really wanted to be noticed by a few people." That aren't cops. "And... you're my first match. I guess I got lucky hooking up with a cutie on my first try."

"O-oh Nimbus, you're a charmer..." Skylark made what sounded like a school girl giggle, and buried his face partially into his fuzzy collar. "I bet girls were all over you as a teen..."

"They were, trust me," Nimbus remembered those days as clear as night... "It was embarrassing having to tell them all I didn't... swing like that."

"Oh! Oh I totally understand that feeling!" Skylark put his hands palms down on the table. "There's this girl who I consider my bestest friend in the whole wide world, I'd literally die for her trust me, but... I found out in my last year in university... she had a crush on me..? So I was like... wait a sec, hunnie. I-i'm gay too. And she took that pretty well surprisingly? She was just like 'oh that's why you didn't understand my advances, you were busy looking at dudes!' Which... well, she wasn't exactly wrong but it sounds much more embarrassing when someone actually points it out, yaknow?"

"Yeah, it's understandable, don't worry. Honestly, you should've said it outright to begin with."

"Yes yes I know... but it was much easier being a closeted gay than holding up a megaphone during a pride event and screaming 'I love cute dudes!' where everyone in the whole universe can see and hear you. ...I just want to clarify I've never done that, but one of my exes did. He was cool... he moved away a while ago, I'm not quite sure what happened to him. Haven't heard from him in a long time..."

"Well, he's probably moved on, I'm willing to bet. I wouldn't worry about it too much."

"Yeah... plus I got someone who's even cuter now!" Skylark leaned over the table, poking Nimbus's nose with his finger, making the other's face turn pink. "Aaand he's probably hotter under all of that..."

"Woah, first date," Nimbus pushed Skylark's hand back with a laugh. "You horny slut..."

"Sorry, haha! I couldn't resist! I bet I'm right though..."

"Oh fuck off, Sky."

"See, you're even call me a nickname! You like that. Hmm... I should call you one too. How about NimNim?"

"Okay, now you're pushing it, Skylark."

"Sowwy..."

"...Don't do that voice."

"Sorry!"

"Tch..." Nimbus partially covered his face with one of his hands, and chuckled. "Hah... you're a huge dorkazoid."

"H-hey, don't be mean!" When Nimbus uncovered his face and looked to Skylark again, the other had his cheeks puffed in a pout, and red spread across them.

"I can't be mean to a cute face like that..."

"Stop it!!" He yanked the collar of his sweater up over his face, and whimpered into it.

Nimbus just kept chuckling, soon growing to laughing not long after. Oh this was already so much fun... this first match wasn't so bad after all.

**Author's Note:**

> This whole story was inspired by this post and prompt on tumblr! https://lavenderarrangementz.tumblr.com/post/611993733965234176/kittymaverick-annieutimagines The original thought goes to writing-prompt-s who posted the prompt in the first place.


End file.
